Laura Magann is the president of Tri City Track Club in Morgan City. She and her husband, Tim, participated in the innagural San Antonio Marathon last weekend with hopes of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Laura is a RRCA Certified Running Coach and had put in around six months of training for this race, which is her third marathon.

Following the race, Laura sent us a blog from her experience.

Hi guys,
I'm home and is limping. I'm so sore! I finished in 3:56:07, Tim in 3:49:53. Another race, more experience gained, and lessons learned. I'm writing this report not to explain why I didn't achieve my ultimate goal. I'm doing this to share my experience, motivate some runners and most importantly to help you to avoid the mistakes that I made along the way.

November 16th was the perfect day to run a goal time in a marathon. The previous day was cold and windy, but the weather predicted 35 degrees and no wind for the start of the race. My race day plan was practiced every weekend before my long runs. I got up at 4:30 a.m., showered, got my coffee, then woke up my husband. I was all ready to go at 5:30, but Tim thought it was too cold to stand at the starting line for almost 2 hours. With a little concern( 30,000 people and the crowd at the expo), I agreed to change the time to somewhere around 6:30.

When we went out to get the shuttle, I could not believe my eyes! The line for the shuttle with three to four people wide had wrapped around the street, and there were no shuttles in sight. We stood in the cold for one full hour shivering (not a good way to start spending your glycogen)before we got on a bus. We heard from the security guard that they were holding the start of the race because of the lines at the shuttle stop.

Well, I did not find out until Monday that we were not that special. The race was not started at 7:30 because of an inaugural glitch. Someone lost the keys to the lead car (the mayor's ride) which was parked right in the middle of the road. Unfortunately for us, they found it before we got there but at least we bought some time. Our bus arrived at 7:39, close to the start, and then we had to walk about a half mile to the actual start. Forgot to mention that there were no porta-potties at the shuttle stop, so everyone was running to the porta potties including us.

We then set out to find our corrals (Tim's was No. 3 and mine was No. 6), totally unaware at that time that the race had already started. When I got to corral 6 I heard corral number 10 announced (almost started crying), and that's when I asked and found out that I was in corral 17 which had moved up to 6 which was long gone. I tried to calm myself with the fact that I had a chip on my shoe, but the thought of having to pace myself and get through waves of people running minutes slower than I was, did little to help my frazzled nerves.

I stated out with corral 17 at what I discovered later was 19 minutes after the first wave. I felt really good and set out to run the 8:46 to 9:00 pace that I planned for the first 5k. I tried to keep track with my garmin, but discovered that the course mile was a little bit longer than the satellite.

The course was mostly flat for the first half, with a few rolling hills which were not a problem at all. It was very difficult getting around people who were running slower than I was, but it was kind of neat when I was crossing over to another wave. I got a little clearing where I was able to really hit my pace, but then I would move right into a crowd of people.

The half marathon turned off at mile 10, and the picture got a bit brighter. When I got to mile 20 I thought, 'wow! I have never felt this good at mile 20 of a marathon!' I felt at that point that I could achieve my goal even though my watch was reading 2:55:51. I kept my pace steady, losing just seconds to water stops which i was able to quickly make up.

Remember I told you that the satellite mile was ahead of the mile marker. Well that had added up along the way leading to about 1/8 of a mile at this point. I knew I was within reach, but was not mentally capable of calculating anything at this point, evident from the 19 minutes that I was late, turning into 26 minutes. I'm not kidding! By the time I got to mile 20, I could not remember what the clock was reading at the start. All I could think was that I needed to pick up the pace, and so I did. I ran mile 21 at 8:36 pace and that's when my left calf started cramping. I slowed the pace down to see if it would go away, but it didn't, and I clocked 10:13 for mile 22. Mile 23 was miserable! I stopped to massage my legs with some arnica gel and both legs completely cramped up. Knowing much about cramps (except how to completely prevent them during a marathon), I waited for the cramps to complete the cycle, stretched quickly, massaged well, and shared my arnica, of course, and kept moving. That was a 12:23 mile, and I could feel my goal slipping away but I was in no way ready to give up.

I picked up the pace and ran the last two miles at an 8:29, but it just wasn't enough. Just a few words of wisdom: 1. Don't plan a big goal around an inaugural race. I predict that the kinks will be worked out next year and this will be a very good race. The course was mostly flat and scenic, with a band at every mile marker, and the course was well supported. I would highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a fun race and even a goal time. 2. If you can't walk to the start, give yourself at least two hours to get on a shuttle and get there on time. There's absolutely no excuse for missing the start of a race, especially after you've invested months training! 3. Leave the kids at home with the babysitter. You should not be stressing about if and when the babysitter will get there. Take the kids to the fun runs. 4. The course is marked, hit your lap button to keep track of your spits. If you can, get a splits arm band because it is a mental challenge once you hit the half. I could not remember anything.

I leave you with these words from the great philosopher confucius: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."